Dale Coyne has blasted Red Bull’s treatment of Alex Albon, saying he was basically set up as Max Verstappen’s “bridesmaid”.
Albon was teammates with Verstappen for nearly two seasons before Red Bull sidelined him. The Thai driver was comprehensively outclassed by his Dutch counterpart, and was routinely beaten all the time.
Red Bull has been accused of being partial to Verstappen and leaving their second driver out to dry by many fans and pundits. Coyne has joined this line of people, and slammed the Milton-Keynes team.
Coyne blasted Red Bull’s treatment of Albon, and said that he was basically the equivalent of Verstappen’s bridesmaid.
As quoted by formula1news.co.uk, when asked about Romain Grosjean encouraging Albon to try IndyCar, Coyne said, “Alex was talking to lots of people.
“He’s been on our radar for a while, and we’ve been speaking with him for over a year now, and he’s interested, for sure.
“Romain is a great salesman for us, showing what we can do as a team, but he’s also the best salesman for IndyCar. Him and Alex talked together for quite a while.
“I think Alex appreciates that the teams here aren’t set up to have one guy as number one and the other as the bridesmaid. That’s something Alex has been through, right?
“It’s different here. If your two guys have two different driving styles, you can generally change each car to suit its driver.”
Wingman
Coyne suggested that what Red Bull does is basically how IndyCar operates, so Albon is welcome to join his place of work.
“But if having them on different setups helps get the best out of each driver individually, then you can do that in IndyCar,” he continued.
“We’ve had it that way before, we think we’re pretty good at it and it can work out well.
“So anyway, I think if they’re used to the pressure of Formula 3, 2 and especially Formula 1, drivers find IndyCar a breath of fresh air.
“The hard work is what’s done on track, in the pit lane and in the engineering trailer. There’s not the politicking and pressure,” he concluded.
Read more: Williams to request Red Bull to let Albon join before end of season